In most companies, the supply chain is viewed as a
mission-critical system. In the very best performing companies, the supply chain
is seen as a strategic weapon with which to club the competition and drive
shareholder value. As we continue to move out of the recent slump and looking
to improve our operations, companies should be asking: Are we getting all the
necessary intelligence from our supply chain system to make the best decisions
for our business?

There are many individual things you need to do
well in order for your supply chain to become a competitive weapon. But, in the
end, they all boil down to combining "information" (the
communications or receptions of knowledge) and "intelligence" (the
ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment as measured by
objective criteria). This combination is what is commonly referred to as supply
chain intelligence. Supply chain professionals can leverage the power of this
insight to unlock information they previously could not access, giving their
companies a tremendous competitive advantage.

First, Identify What Information Matters Most

Companies' supply chain systems create an
impressive amount of data. However, there's not any value in loads of data if
you can't access it or understand it. The biggest obstacle in managing this
amount of data involves identifying the information that matters and then
seeing that the same meaningful information gets to all the individuals who
need it to make the best decisions for your company.

Some of the more common challenges that companies
face when it comes to business intelligence for the supply chain are:

·What is just operational reporting and what is true
business intelligence and analytics?

·Which data is needed in real time and which data
can be updated less frequently?

·What data should be retained over time to analyse
and measure supply chain performance?

·Users don't have to use business intelligence tools
to do their jobs, but they do have to use them to do them more effectively. How
do you get that message across and incent them to use tools?

·Are the business intelligence tools easy enough to
use and yet powerful and flexible enough to be worth using?

·Business intelligence typically relies on
attribution and classification data on master (i.e. item) and transactional
(i.e. shipment) objects and will not be useful if this data is absent or
inaccurate.

Build Intelligence through Content AND Capabilities

Supply chain intelligence is all about bringing
together content and capabilities. "Content" is all of the data held
in various data structures and the various pre-defined reports or views over
that data. "Capabilities" include all of the tools that allow users
to access the data and create new ways of accessing it (i.e. new
"content"). Examples of content include:

The key with data is organising it into subject matter areas familiar to supply
chain users. There are two important types of data within each of these subject
matter areas. The first is measures/KPIs that represent the actual business
performance. The second is the dimensions of analysis-the ways the
measures/KPIs can be analysed (i.e. by item, by supplier, by location, by
product class, etc.)

On the other hand, capabilities are organised into
three layers within a fully functional architecture in a supply chain
intelligence solution:

1.Content storage — This is where all the business data and the specifications of
the various types of objects that access the business data are kept (along with
configurations, user data and system data).

2.Content analysis and
configuration — This set of tools allows users (with
varying levels of training and skills depending on the tool involved) to create
new ways to view and evaluate the data (i.e. new reports, analysis views,
scorecards, dashboards, metrics, events, etc.).

·Highly configurable — Allow individual users to make it their own solution to meet
their specific needs.

·Quick to deploy — Ensure initial implementation is fast (weeks, not months) and make
it very easy to administer on an ongoing basis.

·Easy to use — Users should need no more than an hour or two of training to get
good value from the solution.

·Highly visual — With so much data inherent in a business intelligence solution,
rich visualisation is essential to get information from the mass of data
quickly.

·Accessible anywhere — On the PC, in Microsoft Office or on a mobile device (e.g. smart
phone) — supply chain users are often not tied to their desks but may be on the
warehouse floor, in the yard or traveling.

·Available to your extended
eco-system — It's not just your internal users that need
the information — trading partners also need to know how they are performing.

·Highly scalable — Supply chain business intelligence generates huge amounts of
data on a daily basis that has to be quickly organised, categorised and
accessed.

·Technologically advanced — Build on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) so that
components of the solutions can be quickly combined with other systems to
deliver new solutions (i.e. mashups/composite applications).

Effectively Manage Costs, Customer Service and
Productivity

Business intelligence is the ultimate tool for
supply chain analysis because, when used appropriately, it can significantly
impact the activities that directly affect costs, customer service and
productivity. Proactive companies that implement a supply chain business
intelligence system can expect to benefit with the new-found ability to:

Disclaimer: The information and opinions expressed in this website and the Supply Chain Update newsletter in no way constitutes professional advice and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the editor and staff of Supply Chain Update or Vicenda.